Between her swollen left ankle and some struggles on defense, Olivia Miles’ final game in a Notre Dame uniform amounted to a modest 23 minutes of the 40 minutes of team heartbreak.
TCU, the team that halted the Irish women’s basketball’s NCAA Tourney run that day, March 29 in the Sweet 16, is going to be seeing a lot more of the second-team All-American in the months ahead.
On Tuesday, at little over a week by making a stunning plunge into the transfer portal, Miles announces she’s exited it with the team that handed ND its 71-62 season-ending loss in Birmingham, Ala. ...
The TCU Horned Frogs — and a markedly different version than the one that finished sixth in the final AP poll with a 34-4 record on Monday and had its own NCAA Tourney journey truncated two days after taking down ND. No. 1 seed Texas did the honors, 58-47, to claim a spot in the Final Four.
There’s lots of roster turnover for TCU, including its two biggest stars — guard Hailey Van Lith and center Sedona Prince, each of whom arrived in Fort Worth as two-time transfers. In fact, TCU’s roster included 12 transfers overall, six of whom third-year coach Mark Campbell brought in during last offseason.
The 5-foot-10 grad, with one season of eligibility remaining, is one of four Irish players who jumped into the transfer portal in the days that followed their season-ending loss and is the second to find a landing spot. Miles was expected to enter the WNBA Draft.
Meanwhile, freshman center Kate Koval announced on Monday she’ll transfer to LSU. There have been rumblings center Kylee Watson could join Miles at TCU. The fourth transfer is reserve guard Emma Risch, whose first two college seasons have both been cut short by hip surgery.
The defections leave Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey with three scholarship returnees — all guards — two-time, first-team All-American Hannah Hidalgo, Canadian Olympian Cass Prosper and 2024-25 redshirt KK Bransford. ND’s lone high school signee, 6-3 forward and McDonald’s All-American Leah Macy, suffered a knee injury late in her high school senior season and may not play in 2025-26.
Miles had been with the Irish since enrolling early as a 2021 signee out of Blairstown (N.J.) Blair Academy and playing in six games at the end of the 2020-21 season for Notre Dame. That season didn't count against Miles' eligibility due to the NCAA's COVID-19 exemption. Miles averaged 9.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.5 assists in those six games and continued to elevate her game from there.
Miles became an All-ACC first-team selection as a sophomore in 2021-22. She scored 13.7 points, grabbed 5.7 rebounds and dished out 7.4 assists per game. Miles returned to the All-ACC first team as a junior and landed on the AP's All-America Second Team. She averaged 14.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 6.9 assists in the 2022-23 season, but it was cut short by a torn ACL in February that season.
The ACL injury led to Miles sitting out the entirety of the 2023-24 season. She made her healthy return this past season and regained her All-ACC first-team form. Miles also received spots on the AP All-America second team and the USBWA All-America second team. Miles averaged a career-high 15.4 points while shooting 40.6% from the 3-point line and tallied 5.8 assists and 5.6 rebounds per game.
ESPN considered her the No. 2 prospect in the transfer portal behind the nation’s leader scorer, guard Ta’Niya Latson of Florida State.
Notre Dame is looking to add from the transfer portal, with the deadline for women’s college basketball players to enter it being April 23. Players can select schools after the portal window closes, but that is the deadline to submit their names.
The Irish lost starters Maddy Westbeld, Sonia Citron and Liatu King to expired eligibility, as well as key reserve Liza Karlen and former walk-on Sarah Cernugel.
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